Having a trichotillomania health problem affects everything about your life. Feeling a compulsion to pull your own hair and eyelashes out makes it difficult to do just about anything. People with this common disorder are often self conscious about their hair loss and they feel anxious wondering if others are going to determine what’s affecting them. If you suffer with this condition, there is help and it’s closer than you think.

Many people who have a trichotillomania health problem find the compulsion is much worse when they are under stress. You often see this in kids with this condition. When an exam is approaching or when they are experiencing conflict with another child at school, they’ll unconsciously start pulling their hair. That’s why one of the ways to manage the condition is to manage the stress. It’s really important for people with the hair pulling disorder to find a way to deal effectively with stress. For some it’s handing off extra work to others or simply asking for help with things. You may find it beneficial to take a yoga class or perfect the art of meditation. The key is to put yourself first and remove the things in your life that are causing the most stress and then balance the rest.

Another avenue to explore for those with a trichotillomania health problem is their diet. There’s one substance in particular that may spur on the impulse to pull. Sugar and products made with sugar can aggravate a person with trichotillomania and make it impossible for them not to start pulling their hair, eyelashes and eyebrows out. Parents often see this in children with the condition. It’s definitely worth exploring how sugar affects you. Just cut it out of your diet for a couple of weeks and take note of how often you feel the impulse to pull.

Before you venture an answer which could put you in hot waters, get a lesson from Frank Sinatra about women. He said:

“I’m supposed to have a Ph/D on the subject of women. But the truth is I’ve flunked more often than not. I’m very fond of women; I admire them. But, like all men, I don’t understand them.”

Women are difficult creatures to understand. They can be nothing and everything at the same time; compassionate and fierce, tough and tender, beautiful and ugly. I guess God made them that way to make life interesting; to keep men second guessing them.

Not that they are really that impossible to know or understand. It’s just that men look at the world from their own eyes. Seldom, if ever, is the woman’s side given much weight in the affair of a man’s life – except in his extra marital affairs.

A good example is the Viagra. When it hit the market, it created a frenzy among men. It was like the Holy Grail for those who have been wallowing in self-doubt or frenzy from the most common sexual problem among men – erectile dysfunction.

But was there a when a similar drug for women was introduced into the market? Not that women are free from sexual health issues. In fact, due to the different anatomy, women have more of them than men. The world, men’s world, just didn’t care.

Anyway, for those who are so indifferent or ignorant about their wives or partners, here are the most common sexual health problems they face. Being equipped with such knowledge, I hope that you will be more circumspect when your blue pill didn’t seem to have a reciprocal effect from them.

Inhibited sexual desire:
This is plain lack of sexual desire or interest in sex which could be attributed to hormonal changes, especially during their menopausal period, medical conditions like cancer, depression, pregnancy, stress, fatigue, boredom with regular sexual routines and lifestyle factors like career and the care of children.

Arousal problems:
This is manifested by the lack or insufficiency of vaginal lubrication during sexual activity, thought to be due to anxiety or inadequate stimulation or blood flow problems to the vagina and clitoris.

Orgasm problems (anorgasmia):
This is plain lack of sexual climax usually caused by sexual inhibition, inexperience, lack of sexual knowledge and psychological factors like guilt, anxiety or trauma over past sexual experience or abuse. Other factors could be medication side-effects and chronic diseases.

Painful intercourse:
This could be due to endometriosis (a gynecological disorder among 5 – 10% of women in their reproductive years), ovarian cyst, vaginitis (any infection or inflammation of the vagina), poor lubrication, scar tissues from surgery, or sexually transmitted diseases. Vaginismus, is a painful condition that happens due to the involuntary spasm of the muscles surrounding the vaginal entrance. This happens among women who have a psychological fear of the pain of penetration, sex phobia and traumatic experience from painful sex.

It is impossible to tell how many soured relationships and broken marriages have resulted from these sexual problems, especially among those in the middle-age range.

Lawyers call it “irreconcilable psychological differences.” You may call it any way you like. It doesn’t change the fact that these are very real and if your wife or partner is affected by any or some of these, you are in real big trouble.

If she means that much to you, consult your doctor first before running to your lawyer. I am sure it is less expensive in the long run – money wise or otherwise.

I am sure, too, that he will prescribe something for her as well, to make your relationship, not just your orgasm, more lasting, meaningful and satisfying.

Anxiety can affect the mental health of people and appears to be a large and growing problem in the Western world.

First let us ask if feeling anxious a normal state for human beings? The answer here is a definite yes. Anxiety serves to keep us safe from possible perceived threats that we need to process. It is an early warning system that tells us we need to observe our environment differently and pay special attention at least until we have more information and know how to handle a situation. Very often this early warning system enables us to take appropriate action before a problem gets worse.

What is worrying in today’s world is however that the word anxiety now denotes a mental disorder. You only have to Google in the word anxiety to realise that most people feel it is something that they need to get over. What is less apparent on the web is anxiety skills training. It is almost as if it is by chance that we learn how to deal with our own anxiety. Few of us know how to process our anxiety – one of the cognitive skills that is sadly lacking from our educational curriculum.

Anxiety can be seen on a continuum. At one end anxiety arises when there is a perceived threat that needs processing and at the other end is the person whose anxiety mechanism is out of control which leaves them in a state of heightened anxiety most of the time. This end of the anxiety continuum has a hugely negative impact on a persons’ life.

However there is another continuum. That is the continuum of people’s ability to process anxiety and deal with it effectively. At one end is the person who always seems to be able to stay calm, react appropriately and resolve the anxiety inducing situation. At the other end is the person who is totally controlled by the unpleasant feelings and physical symptoms associated with extreme anxiety.

Added to those two situations is the fact that anxiety is taught to us by out society, and certainly as children we can develop very negative reactions to anxiety producing situations if that is the behavior we see around us. Throw in for good measure our personalities and our personal environmental experiences and perhaps we have a valid case for teaching anxiety appropriate skills as part of our educational system.

This might just go a long way to reducing the incidence of anxiety from becoming a mental health problem. Worth thinking about!